Welcome to collegeismylife.com, a website generated by and produced for [broke] college students all over the country. It’s not easy being a kind-of-adult-kind-of-teenager and trying to support yourself with little to no income and still have fun. That being said, I actively search for ways to save the money that I don’t have and spend as little as possible in hopes of someday being able to pay off loan debt, not live with my parents, and eat food that isn’t ramen. This cash-less life is not easy when being pretty costs money, ladies I’m talking to you, and sinking money into beauty services that you need is always painful. Here are some tips for you to give yourself that $45 salon manicure at home with the supplies you already have.
5. Shape your nails
Instead of just blindly filing down the broken nails, file them all evenly into one shape. This is a huge part of a manicure that makes it look like you got them done in a salon. They pay attention to even-ing out the shapes and lengths of your nails into either square, oval, or my personal favorite, “squoval”.
4. Love your cuticles
Do not neglect your nail bed. Maintaining your cuticles is not only hygienic, but makes your nails look neat and healthy. Push back the cuticle growing over the nail with an orangewood stick, or any small, flat stick, and snip back the dead skin with a small pair of nail scissors or nail clippers. Make sure you use a cuticle oil or balm to soften the cuticles before you work on them.
3. Exfoliate & moisturize
Use a gentle sugar or salt scrub from your elbow down and rinse with warm water. This will slough off all the dead skin and rough spots. Follow it up with a hand and body butter and massage it in completely for a soft, just-left-the-salon feel.
2. Use a base coat
Pick up a quality, strengthening, base coat from your local CVS or other drugstore. This will make all the difference when filling in ridges in your nails and putting down a healthy and protective layer between your natural nail and the chemical-infested polish.
- Apply polish evenly & let it dry
Fill your nail with three, even strokes of polish: one down the middle, and one on either side. This will make sure the polish is spread evenly and neatly without getting all over your nail bed (if you have a pretty steady hand). Make sure that these three strokes cover all the nail and let this coat dry completely before doing a second coat. This will ensure that the polish doesn’t smudge or pick up the fibers of the brush and wont be so thick when it dries that it will easily chip off.
Save yourself some cash, girl, and do it yourself. You can even buy gel nail polish at drugstores if that’s more your style. But seriously, this will save you lots of money spent on your typical manicures, and if you pamper yourself and do a good job with it, it will look just as good as a salon mani.
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